" My son was dead, but six Israelis now have a part of a Palestinian in
them, and maybe he is still alive in them"
These are the words of the Palestinian father Ismail Khatib who donated his son
Ahmed's organs to Israelis after the 12 year old was shot dead by Israeli
soldiers while holding a toy gun.
This remarkable gesture of humanity is not the first time victims of the
conflict have given life to people on the other side of the Arab-Jewish
divide. This year is the 5th anniversary of the death of Yoni Jesner, a
19 year old Jewish religious student murdered in the bombing of a
Tel-Aviv bus. Part of his body went to save the life of a Palestinian
girl from East Jerusalem. Presenter
Vera Frankl of the BBC takes a closer look at the generosity and faith of these
two families - the Jesners and the Khatibs - and we ask if a person can
live on in some way through organ donation - here, in these two stories,
part of a Jew alive in an Arab, and part of an Arab alive in a Jew.

Program Credits

Life Beyond Death was produced by Vera Frankl and Anne Khazam and was mixed by Jared Weissbrot.

Resources

Links:Yoni Jesner FoundationThe Yoni Jesner Foundation has been set up in memory of Yoni Jesner, 19, of Glasgow, Scotland, who was killed in a suicide bombing on a bus in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 19th September 2002.